1000+ Origami Cranes

This video introduces myself, the origami crane, and my motivations related to volunteerism, visual art and writing.

I hope my YouTube.com video is acceptable. I’m hoping that it serves as an introduction to myself, my motivation, what happened to me in 1996, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and my combined pursuits of volunteerism, visual art and writing. YouTube has a limit of 100 megs and 10 minutes, so I came up with a 7 1/2 minute video. I hope you don’t find it too much.

The pictures of myself are from 2006, when I still had short hair. I let my hair grow long and haven’t had a haircut since September 2006.

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If you can spare $1, I would not be insulted. Thanks!

First off, if I said I don’t need help, I would be more insane than my project. Please help. Please be creative. Please be financial. Please let me know if you have any ideas. Please sponsor me. Please collect my art. Please use the logos. Please mention me in your blogs. Please send your cranes. I also welcome other artists. I don’t want to be alone. My email addresses are vzubiri334@aol.com and val@valentinozubiri.com.

The Origami Crane Project is MONUMENTAL. I’m asking the entire world to send me cranes. I will be overwhelmed with mail, and many other related aspects of it, receiving, storing, cataloging and displaying the cranes. I will need to travel as well.

In my heart and mind, when I was just thinking about it, and hesitating to do it, I was in anguish. When I decided to just go ahead with it, and prepare, with my website, adding credentials in my blogs, etc., I felt better. Now that I am actually asking people to send me cranes, I actually am even feeling much, much better. This project is in my system. I’m really into it. Money has no bearing on this project. It’s the art! But reality will set in, and I will need some.

I also hope to establish a nonprofit myself that can work with people and with other nonprofits. This project will qualify me in many ways. If I succeed, I will gain credibility to work with more and more people.

I’m hoping to begin an Art for Awareness nonprofit organization. I’m hoping that a small donation could make a difference. You can give small, because as of yet, I am still a private entity - your donations are not yet tax deductible.

If you would rather buy my own art, please do so, that way it would not be a donation. I should be collectible soon enough. You can email me at vzubiri334@aol.com

Please separate thinking about donating with thinking about how you would be making a crane and sending it to me. I’m hoping to get cranes from poor people and countries. If you don’t have money, but you have paper to fold, please send me your crane. If you are a child, just send me your crane. Don’t even think about money. Maybe one day I’ll send you some, but your crane is magical. It will inspire many, it will go places. Don’t cage your message!

If you decide to help me financially, the PayPal Donate button is available, and thanks in advance.

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In some countries in Asia, especially in Japan, there is the myth that if you make 1,000 cranes, you will be granted a wish. I read about this when I was very small, in the Philippines, and I believed.

The most famous person to become involved was Sadako Sasaki, in Japan, who at the age of 12 was diagnosed with leukemia and given only a year to live. She was only two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, just a mile away from her home.

While in the hospital, Sadako folded cranes to pass the time, and although she did not recover from her sickness, dying just months after the diagnosis, her legacy lives on. Around the time of her death, other people sent her cranes as well. At lease two statues now stand in her honor, one in Hiroshima, Japan and another in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

Read more about her on Wikipedia and The Children’s Peace Monument. You can follow the links to other articles from there if you want to read more.

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I used to use just white bond paper, because it brought out the color of the ribbon. However, I encourage everyone to use any type of paper they want, and to deviate from the ribbon if they want to do so as well. When you send me your crane, you can include a dvd or cd of a video related to your work, and / or an essay.

Begin with a square paper. Use the size of bond paper if you are not yet used to folding. Try to be precise, make the points sharp and the creases sharp as well. Ask for help if you need to.

There are 2 folds that result from the previous creases. You will either get a mountain fold, which looks like a triangle, or a square fold, which looks like a square. If you got a mountain fold, just flip the paper over and the square fold will result.

You are now shaping the wings at this stage, by bringing the 2 flaps up on both sides of the square.

The 2 legs that are pointing down are going to be the head and the tail of the crane. You need to make them narrower to make the neck and the tail slim.

On this last stage, bring the “legs” up, and then make the head on one of them.

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This is a simple entry, just to welcome everyone who will come to this site. I have decided to undertake the 1000 Cranes project, like I did more than 10 years ago, and this time it will be bigger. This is the quiet before the storm.

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